Middle East crisis: UN human rights office condemns worsening violence

In an appeal for an end to the “killing, destruction [and] bellicose posturing” by those in power, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that the situation for civilians on the ground “in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and Syria is getting worse by the day”.

On Friday, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported that two peacekeepers had been injured “after two explosions” close to an observation tower. On Thursday, a pair of the Mission’s troops were injured “after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall”, it said.

“These incidents put again UN peacekeepers, who are serving in south Lebanon at the request of the Security Council under resolution 1701 (2006), at very serious risk.”

Beirut target

Speaking in Geneva, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani described how the densely populated capital of Beirut “is increasingly being hit by Israeli airstrikes” which have left more than 2,100 dead over the last year, according to the Lebanese authorities.

The development comes as Hezbollah and other armed groups “continue to fire rockets into Israel, resulting in the first civilian fatalities in the north since the most recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon last month”, the OHCHR spokesperson noted.

Healthcare centres and emergency workers have not been spared from the intensifying Israeli strikes, with 96 primary health care centres and clinics closed by 5 October, according to the Lebanese authorities.

“We’ve had several reports also of airstrikes, targeting other medical centres and of paramedics as well as firefighters, being killed,” Ms. Shamdasani said.

Since 30 September, 49 health workers have been killed in nine confirmed attacks, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Responding to reports that UNIFIL had come under Israel Defense Forces fire on Thursday, Ms. Shamdasani insisted that States are obliged under international law “to ensure that they are not hit, that they are protected”.

UN peacekeepers are based in south Lebanon to support a return to stability under a 2006 Security Council mandate. Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701, UNIFIL said in a statement following the incident, amid widespread IDF destruction of towns and villages in south Lebanon, and ongoing missile attacks on northern Israel. 

“On 9 and 10 October, Hezbollah said it had launched at least 360 missiles from southern Lebanon into Israel,” Ms. Shamdasani said. “Two people were killed in a rocket attack on the border town of Kiryat Shmona on 9 October, a day after five others were injured in a rocket attack on Haifa.”

Gaza: Polio vaccination concern

Meanwhile in Gaza, UN humanitarians have continued to warn that the situation for civilians is getting worse, as the Israeli military renews its push into the north where some 400,000 people face evacuation orders.

“Over the last week, the Israeli military has intensified operations in north Gaza, further severing the area from the rest of the Gaza Strip and risking afresh the lives of civilians in the areas,” Ms. Shamdasani said. “Intense strikes, shelling, quadcopter shootings and ground incursions have occurred over the past days, hitting residential buildings and groups of people, causing numerous casualties and once again, mass displacement of Palestinians in the area.” 

As UN aid agencies and partners prepare to roll out the second phase of the mass polio vaccination campaign next week, the WHO’s Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, underscored the impact of a chronic lack of humanitarian access to the enclave and, in particular, the north.

“Many of the hospitals in the north are running out of fuel. Most of the UN and humanitarian missions are not happening to the north. They’re running out of a a few specific medical supplies and we are one year in this crisis,” Dr Peeperkorn said, as he confirmed that three relief missions north of Wadi Gaza had not made it this week. “So, we request again…that these humanitarian missions to the north, wherever, to the south, they need to happen.”